Abandoned grain silos. Or, why Fresno can't have nice things
Plus, a Peso Pluma Save Mart Center review.
Last week, Fresno Bee columnist Marek Warszawski wrote this piece on the eminent demolition of the decades-old grain silos at the south end of Palm Avenue as it dead ends downtown.
His take (and I’ll quote directly): “Here in Fresno, there is little fondness for old, quirky and interesting. Most everything with historical and architectural value gets torn down. (Either all at once via wrecking ball, or following years of neglect when deterioration and dilapidation leaves no choice.) Then replaced with something newer and more bland.”
I mention the story here based somewhat these online comments, which hint at issues that can be extrapolated beyond old buildings and help answer a question Fresnans love to ask: Why can’t we have nice things?
For starters: There money and vision and the ability to bring those things forward simultaneously. Fresno tends see one or the other, but rarely both at the same time (the Rainbow Ballroom, serving as a possible recent exception).
See: That promised Laugh Factory comedy club or the current kerfuffle over ArtHop/Why Not Wednesdays.
And even in the rare cases when both do come together (the start-up music festival Grizzly Fest for example) there always seems to be some other outside force ready to gum up the works.
So, the tone of Warszawski piece is apt.
Of course, there is some subjectivity in what exactly makes for these “nice things” Fresno can’t have. And this talk plays contrast to the nature of most things truly quirky and interesting and worth giving your attention. Those things come about organically and are built mostly out of necessity, on willpower, sweat equity and sometimes years of neglect, deterioration and dilapidation.
See: The Vagabond Pool.
Peso Pluma, Exodo tour review, Save Mart Center, Sept. 7, 2024
It’s been several years now since regional Mexican music hit arena-level status.
Banda MS played the Save Mart Center in 2019 and opened up Fresno’s mainstay arena to the style, or rather the full spectrum of associated styles.
On Saturday, the Save Mart Center hosted Peso Pluma, the 25-year old superstar of corridos tumbados and arguably the most popular Mexican performer on the planet at the moment.
The show was a to-the-rafters sell out and happened to be on the same day as the home opener for Fresno State football and one day after a sold-out performance from fellow corrido singer Junior H, which made that stretch of east Shaw Avenue the busiest part of Fresno (and a traffic nightmare) for much of the weekend.
The show itself was a massive arena-level production with all the trappings (from the illuminated LED stage to laser lights, pyrotechnics and confetti cannons). The singer played for more than two hours, backed by an eight-piece band and a dozen dancers and oscillated between neo-traditional corridos and beat-thumping electronic rave-up (the finale for example).
Check out my full review (with photo gallery and videos) up over at The Fresno Bee.
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. Tonight, I’ll be on with Love the Captive founder Johnny Q talking this year’s Summer Sweat Festival. Follow my other writing at The Fresno Bee. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com